Beyond the Field
by ProudToBeAGinger
Summary: To him, football met everything. Nothing else was more important, but that day he picked his little sister up from the hospital and saw her blonde haired patient, everything changed. Because of this, Natsu Dragneel was forced with the most difficult decision yet. His love for the game, or the love of his life.
1. Chapter 1

_Ugh, I don't know why a story like this hasn't been written yet. But I'm writing it now! I'm thinking you guys are going to hate me at some parts and some of you will love me but I promise everything will be ok in the end! Enjoy ~ _

_Pairings: Main: NaLu Others: Gruvia, Gajevy, Jerza, RoWen, Igneel x Grandeeny, ElfEver, basically all the major couples. _

_Summary: To him, football met everything. Nothing else was more important, but that day he picked his little sister up from the hospital and saw her blonde haired patient, everything changed._

_Beyond the Field: Chapter one_

He was all nerves and anticipation. This level of competition went way beyond his college years of football. In high school, college coaches had their eyes on him and his amazing abilities since day one of his freshman year. He was awarded a full-ride scholarship for football and was immediately drafted into the professional league right after college.

That wasn't even the best part about it though.

His best friends, whom he had grown up with all his life, also received a spot on their state's professional football team. That alone made the experience one hundred times better.

Through the long, grueling 6 hour practices. Through the sweat, the blood, and the tears, the day they have been anticipating for so long has finally arrived.

Their first professional football game.

All the members of the team stood underneath the stands waiting to be announced and run out on their home field. There was conversation going on all around, that and the roaring of the crowd just above them made it impossible to hear anything.

But to the rookie running back, Natsu Dragneel, he could only hear silence as he focused on the upcoming game.

"Yo flame brain, you ready?" Gray Fullbuster, the quarterback, asked knowing that his best friend and rival was just as nervous as he was. Through his nerves, Natsu flashed his famous grin in hopes that it would wash away some of his fears.

"Born ready ice princess." He turned to face the dark haired man who was a mere few inches taller than he was. "What 'bout you? I bet you're shiverin' in your cleats." Gray scoffed at the half hearted insult.

"Yeah, terrified. The only difference is this league has more experience than the college level. And with all the torture of practices we went through, the bastards don't stand a chance." The leader of team said trying to lift the spirits of all who were listening. The pink haired athlete rolled his eyes, Gray could sure act like a chick sometimes.

"As long as you keep the thong out of your ass, ya prick." The voice of the defensive back, Gajeel Redfox, spoke loud enough for Gray to hear his rude comment. The quarterback didn't take the comment seriously though. "Stick to the football, your pep talks suck."

"Someones PMSing…" Natsu mumbled under his breath which earned a bark of laughter to anyone who was tuned into the three mens conversation. While the long haired man clenched his jaw at the comment, Gray smirked.

"I don't think its PMS pyro freak," Gray gave Gajeel a look of knowing which confused the taller man, "I think its a short girl, with short blue hair, who loves books and name is Levy-"

"What about her fucker?" Gajeel said his attention focused on the leader of the team for the comment about his girlfriend.

"She's coming to watch you today, ya?" Gajeel nodded with a slight blush adorning his tanned skin.

"So what 'bout it?" Gajeel inquired. "Your girl's comin' to see ya too." Gray stayed silent, not saying anything because Juvia was coming to watch his game today. Gajeel turned to the pink haired man now. "Sucks to be you Salamander, doesn't have a girl to come watch him." Gajeel said snickering along with Gray.

Natsu just growled at the comment. "I don't need a girlfriend, I just need football." The pinkette said stubbornly, slightly embarrassed by the truth.

"Come to think of it," Gray started saying putting his thumb and forefinger and rubbing his chin in a thoughtful manner, "You've never had a girlfriend have you Natsu?" He just blushed even more which caused howls of laughter from the listening crowd.

"Its not funny!" Natsu said defensively, "I've just never been interested in a girl before."

"What are ya, gay?" Gajeel barked out and another round of laughter erupted. Before the pink haired running back could respond the announcer began to talk. Putting on their helmets and their mouthpieces, the nerves came back as the announcer said it was time for them to come out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I introduce to you, the Magnolian Mages!" The screams and cheers of the crowd motivated them as they ran out to their home field. Gray ran in front as Natsu ran a little behind alongside Gajeel, soaking in the the amusement of the crowd. It was at this point in time Natsu Dragneel decided…

He was born to play football.

* * *

><p>"Great job tonight, ladies!" Coach Makarov said to his team. They had won the game 28 to 10, Natsu getting all 4 of the touchdowns. "Even though I'm proud of you brats, we still got practice tomorrow. Don't be late or prepared to run!" Makarov looked to Gray. "Gray if you would dismiss us." Gray nodded and put his hand out, as did his other teammates.<p>

"Mages on three!" Gray shouted.

"One, two, three. Mages!" The rest of the team shouted in unison going to shower, change, and go home and wait until tomorrow's torturous practice. Natsu went to his locker which was in between his two friends. Once he unlocked his locker, he immediately reached his phone to check his texts and calls. He immediately checked and seen that he had a text from his mother.

_Great job tonight Natsu, Igneel and I are very proud! Could you pick Wendy up from her job shadowing at the hospital while we go get tonights dinner? Thank you dear ~ _

Natsu rolled his eyes, Grandeeny didn't even give him a choice. Grabbing his towel he quickly found an empty shower stall, washed the sweat out of his hair and off his well toned body, and walked back over to his locker to get dry clothes.

"Any plans for tonight?" Gray asked him as he put on a black t-shirt. Natsu just shrugged.

"I have to go pick Wendy up, Igneel and Grandeeny are going out to get dinner so I think it might be a family night." The 22 year old pink haired male said.

"Okay, well if its not text me and we'll make some plans." Gray said shutting his locker and grabbing his car keys. "Later flame crotch." He said with a two finger salute and went off to go meet his blue haired girlfriend. Natsu looked around to see there were only a few more males left in the locker room, he assumed Gajeel already left to go be with Levy. Sighing, Natsu grabbed his own car keys and left the locker room.

* * *

><p>Parking in the hospital parking lot Natsu got out of his red corvette that he worked his ass off to get during his high school years. Entering the building he walked up to the receptionist desk, not sure on where his sister would be. "Excuse me, miss?"<p>

The nurse looked up and smiled. "May I help you?"

"Uh, yeah. My sister Wendy Marvell is job shadowing here, do you happen to know where she is?" The nurses green eyes brightened up.

"Oh, Wendy! Shes such a sweet girl. Shes just right down the hall in room 72." The nurse said, her smile never faltering. Natsu gave a smile back and nodded his thanks and continued down the hallway where the nurse told him to go. When he was in front of the door he noticed it cracked. Out of curiosity, he peaked inside to see what was going on in there. He seen his long blue haired sister sitting in a chair next to the bed that he assumed was occupied but couldn't see who was in it. He just assumed it was a female by the voice. Instead of interrupting their conversation, he decided to eavesdrop.

"How are you feeling today Lucy-san?" Wendy Marvell asked the blonde haired patient who gave a soft smile back.

"I'm feeling fine. It's been a whole month already, and I'm still in the clear." Lucy said happily back. "I feel like a new person."

"I'm so happy to hear that! Do you know when you can leave the hospital?" Lucy wrinkled up her nose in irritation.

"They said I couldn't leave until I'm at least two months in the clear, because I guess within the first two months is when it has the best chance of returning." Wendy nodded in understanding.

"Well, whenever you can get out of here I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind you coming over for dinner!" Wendy suggested, but soon shook her head at her commanding tone. "I-I mean if you want to of course! Because I know y-you've been in here for awhile and don't really know many people…" Lucy giggled at the short girls antics.

"I would love to Wendy, as long as your parents are okay with it." She replied sweetly, trying to comfort the girl. Wendy smiled at the busty blonde.

"Awesome! I'll ask when it gets closer to time, I even got a brother that's a year older than you. He's super cool and nice, maybe he could introduce you to his friends."

"If he would like to sure." Lucy replied, her smile still on her face. Natsu swelled his pride at his sister's praise. Since there was a pause in the conversation, he decided it was the best time to step in since he was tired and wanted to home and eat.

"Wendy I'm here-" Natsu said stepping into the room and instantly paused as he seen the girl occupying the bed. He took one big audible gulp. Natsu had seen some pretty girls in his 22 years of life, but none as pretty as the blonde in the hospital bed. Her golden locks spread across her shoulders, her big, doe brown eyes looked at him in wonder, he usually didn't look there but he couldn't help but notice how big her chest looked in the ugly blue hospital gown.

Natsu decided that she was the most beautiful girl that he had ever laid his eyes on.

"Natsu-nii!" Wendy said looking back at her pink haired brother. "Natsu-nii, this is Lucy-san. Lucy-san, this is my brother Natsu-nii that I was just telling you about." Lucy offered him a smile and Natsu swore his heart skipped a beat.

"Hello." Even her voice was beautiful.

"H-Hey." The pink haired male stuttered out and took her soft hand as she offered him a friendly handshake. "Are you ready to go Wendy?" Natsu asked, he hated to be rude but their parents were probably waiting on them. The petite girl sighed.

"Yeah, I guess it is getting pretty late." She said standing up and walking over to the blonde and pulling her into a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow Lucy-san!" Lucy smiled and kissed the younger girls forehead.

"I'm looking forward to it Wendy." Lucy let go and looked into Natsu's onyx eyes. "It was really nice meeting you, Natsu." Natsu felt his mouth grow dry all of a sudden.

"It was nice to meet me too." Lucy gave a confused look and Natsu's face turned the color of his hair. "I mean it was nice to meet you, not me cause I already-" Natsu stammered but stopped when he heard the angelic giggles coming from the pretty blonde.

"You're pretty funny." Natsu's face grew even redder if that was even possible.

"T-Thanks." With that, Natsu and Wendy gave the blonde one last wave and walked out the door. The walk out of the hospital and to Natsu's car was silent until Wendy got in the car and started to laugh. Natsu gave her a confused look.

"What's so funny?" He asked starting his car. Wendy shook her head.

"Just your interaction with Lucy-san was pretty amusing is all." Natsu groaned as he pulled out on the main road.

"You know I'm not good with girls." Wendy smiled, trying to push her luck.

"Especially with pretty girls like Lucy." Natsu sighed, he couldn't lie to his sister.

"Yes, especially with pretty girls like Lucy." Natsu said and after a moment of silence he decided to ask a question he wondered about as soon as he laid eyes on her. "Whats wrong with her?" Wendy stiffened.

"Sorry Natsu-nii, I can't give out that information, its classified." Natsu frowned, but understood.

"Its cool, I understand." Natsu said even though he was desperate to know. He didn't know what it was, but something just drew him to the beautiful blonde. He didn't know if it was her laugh, or her smile, or her beautiful brown eyes, or her caring personality, or a mixture of both. She gave off an aura that made Natsu feel peaceful, and he wanted to be around it more. Even if it was their first encounter, Natsu made himself a promise.

He would get to know this mysterious Lucy.

_End__ Chapter_

_I hope you guys enjoyed it, I really enjoyed writing it. Please read and review, I really appreciate your guy's feedback! _


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you for all the positive feedback on the last chapter! I decided to update early for Christmas (; Enjoy! ~ _

_Beyond the Field: Chapter 2_

Natsu slumped into the locker room with his team mates.

That was a grueling, six hour practice.

"Ugh, I'm so dead." Gray said, putting his head against the cool metal locker. Natsu couldn't agree more with his frienemy. He casually sat down on the bench with his damp towel and wiped the sweat off from the back of his neck.

"Couldn't agree more Ice Freak." Gajeel said, freshly out of the shower. Natsu blinked in a daze, they just got in the locker room not even ten minutes ago.

"Gotta date or somethin'?" Natsu asked after standing up getting ready to take his own shower. Gajeel just nodded his head, water trickling on the floor.

"Yeah, mine and Shrimp's five month anniversary. Takin' her out to a fancy restaurant and all that jazz." Gajeel put a sly smirk on his face. "But the real fun won't be til' after-"

"I don't wanna hear about your damn sex life!" Natsu said smashing his large hands over his ears, blocking out the surrounding laughter from his fellow athletes. Gajeel looked at the pink haired man and his smirk grew larger.

"You're just mad that you're a virgin." Natsu's face turned the color of his hair. His jaw clenched at the embarrassing truth.

"So?" Natsu said trying to hide his embarrassment, but it wasn't working too well. "Droy's a virgin too! And he's two years older than I am!" He added in defense.

"But look at Droy," Gray joined into the conversation pointing over to the heavy set man, "And look at you." Natsu knew he was right, but still he abruptly stood up and pushed passed the line of men standing in his way.

"I'm just waiting for the right girl. I don't just want a hook up, I want something thats real." He said angrily and the other men knew not to mess with him when he was in a state like this.

Natsu stomped into the empty shower stalls and slammed his fist on the tile wall. "Bastards…" The pink haired athlete muttered under his breath. Of course those guys would make fun of him for a stupid reason like not having a girlfriend and being a virgin. His whole life has been dedicated to school and football, there was absolutely no time for anything else. Putting his hair into the water current he gave a small smile at the thought of the blonde he had met yesterday. Even though she hadn't been wearing any make-up and her hair was a disheveled mess, she was still one of the prettiest girls he had seen on a while. He put the cinnamon shampoo in his hair, maybe Lucy liked cinnamon fragrance? He shook his head of the thoughts.

Why was she doing this to him already? They only met yesterday. As he turned off the water and walked over to his locker to see the whole locker room was empty, he looked down at his phone to look at the time.

6:13 P.M. His onyx eyes widened at the time.

He was in the shower for over an hour. He scratched his damp hair in thought. What on Earthland could he possibly have been thinking about that made him stand in the shower for that long?

Oh yeah,

Lucy.

He was brought out of his thoughts when his cell phone rang, he quickly dried his hair off as much as he could with his towel before answering.

"Hello?"

"_Natsu." _Natsu sighed at the voice.

"What do you want Igneel?" He heard his father scoff into the phone.

"_Such a rude way to talk to your father, Natsu." _He rolled his eyes and stayed silent waiting for the older man to say what she wanted. "_Anyways, where are you at?"_

Natsu scratched the back of his head. "In the locker room."

"_Why are you still there? Your practice was suppose to be over an hour ago."_

Natsu gave an uneasy laugh, "I was taking a shower…"

"_For an hour? Your showers usually take five minutes."_

"Yeah, well, I had some stuff on my mind…" Natsu said, his face turning a dark shade of pink.

"_Oh? And what stuff would that be boy?" _Natsu gulped, he had no other choice but to tell the truth to his father.

He was the chief police officer of the Magnolia Police Department after all.

"A-A girl…" He could hear his father choke on the other line.

"_Natsu, we talked about this before. You DON'T think about a girl in the shower." _There was a pause in her sentence. "_Unless, shes your girlfriend?" _Natsu never felt his face heat up this much before.

"DAD! She's NOT my girlfriend! I just met her yesterday... "

"_... Natsu Dragneel, you shouldn't be jacking off to a girl you met yesterday in the shower." _

"I WAS NOT JACKING OFF!" He heard his father's laughter over the phone which just put even more salt in the wounds.

His laughter dying, Igneel was able to speak again. "_Anyway, can you pick Wendy up from the hospital? She gets done at 9. I know it's late but go explore, or go visit this 'girl.'" _Natsu was ready to reach over and choke his dad, but some of his anger was relieved whenever the thought of seeing Lucy again.

"Yeah, sure. whatever bye." He said and hung up his face and put it in his jeans pocket and quickly headed out of the locker room.

Knocking on room 72, he seen Lucy sitting up in her bed. Her hair was neatly brushed into pigtails and her brown eyes were focused on the book in front of her.

"Uh, Lucy?" The blonde jumped a little at the voice but soon calmed down when he realized who it was.

"Oh, Natsu. Wendy is helping the doctors with something else today." She said closing the book and placing it in her lap. "Is there something I could do for you?"

He walked over to the sickly girl on the bed and sat down in the unoccupied chair next to her. "No, uh, I'm sorry for scaring you." She giggled, and Natsu just absolutely loved that sound.

"It's okay, I don't get any other visitors besides Wendy so seeing you just shocked me a bit." Natsu blinked and put his elbows up on the arm rests.

"Why don't your parents' come to visit you?" He immediately regretted asking the question when Lucy's happy face instantly saddened. "I'm sorry-"

She offered the football player a sad smile. "No, its okay." She looked down to her lap before continuing. "My parent's are dead." Natsu's heart sank.

"I'm really sorry to hear that, Luce." He already felt bad about bringing up unwanted memories for her, he wasn't going to go farther and asked how they died. "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't know my parents." Lucy looked up to him with shocked brown eyes.

"Really?" Natsu shook his head.

"Igneel and Grandeeny adopted me when I was three, and they also adopted Wendy when I was six. She was two at the time." Lucy put her small, pale hand on top of Natsu's large tan one.

"I'm very sorry to hear about that Natsu, I'm very glad that you found a family that loves you though." Lucy brought her hand back and placed it on her other one in her lap. "From what Wendy tells me, you have a wonderful family."

Natsu was still focusing on how her soft hand had been on top of his in a comforting manner. "Yeah, they're great." He muttered, still consumed with the lingering feeling of her hand on his.

"I can't wait to meet them whenever I get out of this place." Natsu snapped his head up.

"You're gonna meet them when you get out?" Lucy merely nodded her head. "Why?"

Lucy giggled once again. "Why not? I don't know anyone in this town besides Wendy, the fellow nurses, and now you." Lucy closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side and Natsu swore it was the cutest thing he had ever seen. "And Wendy always raves about your moms cooking, it always makes my mouth water since I eat crappy hospital food." Natsu chuckled.

"Yeah, Grandeeny's grub is pretty great." Natsu gave his signature grin. "It'll be great to have you over Luce! When can you leave this place." Lucy placed her finger on her chin in a thinking manner.

"I think I have to wait another week. Then I'm free!" She said cheerfully and Natsu smiled at her happiness.

He wanted to see her this happy everyday.

"Where are you going to stay?" Lucy's eyes twinkled with wonder.

"You sure are full of questions today."

"You don't seem to mind."

She smiled. "Of course I don't." She looked to the hospital window. "I truthfully don't know, like I said I don't know anyone in this town." Natsu gave a thoughtful look towards the girl.

"If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" Lucy looked at his confused.

"Why?"

"Just curious, I am a very curious person after all." Natsu said relaxing more into the uncomfortable hospital chair.

"I can tell." Lucy smiled for the umpteenth time that day. "I'm 21."

"A year younger than me." He said under his breath. "Whenever you get out of this joint, I'll introduce you to my friends. They're freaks, but you're weird, so it'll work out."

Lucy gave a cute pout before sticking her tongue out of her mouth. "I'm not a weirdo, idiot." He chuckled at the girl's humor.

He wanted to hear her laugh everyday.

"But do you really mean it Natsu? I've always wanted friends." Natsu gave a surprised look when Lucy's hand smacked over her mouth harshly.

"What do ya mean by that?" She smiled it off, but Natsu knew there was more to tell.

"Thats a story for another day." She said bluntly, hoping that the athlete would take the hint and she was relieved when he did.

"I can't wait Natsu!" She said clapping her small hands together. He smiled softly at her this time.

"I can't wait to show you, Lucy."

He wanted to see her happy like this everyday.

Lucy returned the boys smile and thought,

"_Maybe he can give me the life I've always wanted."_

_**End Chapter**_

_MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR_


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